


3AM Monochrome

by beowvlf



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Demon Sex, Fluff and Angst, Incest, Introspection, M/M, Other, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-11-18 20:31:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18126128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beowvlf/pseuds/beowvlf
Summary: Odds and ends. (*contains DMC5 spoilers*)





	1. Black Summer Wine (Shadow/V)

**Author's Note:**

> Collected ficlets and fragments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set some time during the interim month before the start of the game.

 

 

 

  
In this abandoned hotel room, on a soft mattress and clean linen, V lies awake, unable to sleep. He can't even remember the last time he slept on a bed. It feels so ordinary, but he can't forget why he's here. Through the open balcony doors drift the noises of a city under siege from the Underworld: the screeching and chittering of low-level demons scavenging on the streets; distant gunfire and sirens.  
  
Griffon is perched on the balcony, asleep, or pretending, with his head tucked under one wing. Shadow lies beside V, a warm, calming presence. The night air is warm, barely a breeze stirring the gauzy curtains. A lovely summer night if the world wasn't ending.  
  
It doesn't feel right to be lying here, to allow himself anything like comfort. V keeps thinking about how he should be out there, fighting the demons, trying to save as many human lives as he can. But he also knows he's useless compared to Dante and Nero; and he needs to survive long enough to see this through.  
  
Always sensitive to his moods, especially when V is upset and anxious, Shadow perks up beside him. The demon shifts his heavy body closer, silently trying to calm V's agitation. He nuzzles at V's face, then licks him hesitantly. V can't help sighing and burying his fingers in Shadow's sleek fur. What comfort did he ever have after his family was torn apart? And now a demon is trying to comfort him? It's new, but doesn't really surprise him—they're both discarded fragments of Vergil.  
  
It's not just comfort that V craves. He knew that from the moment he set eyes on Dante again. V wanted to touch him, to talk to him like the long-lost brother he was. For Dante to really see him. But for them a heartwarming reunion wouldn't be complete without them ending up on the floor, against a wall, sprawled on the desk, or on that worn out old leather couch. V smirks to himself. They'd be a mess, trying to make up for lost time and rediscovering each other.  
  
Shadow can probably feel just how desperate V is. There's no hiding it. Shadow purrs and lavishes V with licks to his sensitive spots, pinning him almost possessively with large, soft paws.  
   
Shadow tastes and smells of the darkness and power Vergil always carried with him in the Underworld, the vestiges of Nelo Angelo. So familiar, despite now instinctively making this human form uneasy, overwhelming with that otherworldly power.  
  
With shaky limbs V rolls over onto his stomach. In the dark it's easy to squeeze his eyes shut, and imagine a different body draping over him as Shadow's solid weight presses him into the mattress. Distant memories of calloused hands, a cocky grin and hungry kisses, his name gasped out like he's the only one Dante ever needs. All the love he's been longing for...  
  
Shadow laps at V's tear-stained cheeks, his whiskers tickling, and V laughs softly despite himself.

 

 

 


	2. A Flame in your Heart (Dante/V)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post-game AU where V is split from Vergil again as they escape the Underworld.

 

 

As they lie in bed together, Dante brushes his thumb over the back of V's neck, feeling the vertebrae between his shoulders. He never expected to find his brother so fragile. So sweet. When Dante touches his full lips, V doesn't hesitate to open for him, his glance provocative despite the the early hour. They're both still too tired and sated to act on it though.  
  
V holds Dante's hand, kisses the scar that never fades from his palm. When Dante pulls his hand away to instead lay it gently on V's head, V whispers, "I'm sorry."  
  
Not just for the scar, but the many things Vergil had done and V had the capacity to regret.  
  
"You don't need to keep apologizing for the things he did," Dante says.  
  
V shakes his head. "Until a few days before I found you, we were one and the same. They're my mistakes too."  
  
Dante doesn't like to think that way though. He doesn't like to see V take on all the blame, regret, pain, while the demon side of Vergil that stayed in the Underworld probably feels nothing at all over the atrocities he committed as Urizen.  
  
Dante tries to distract V with food; and anyway, the way he wrecked V last night Dante owes him at least a decent breakfast. V's so skinny Dante worries sometimes that he'll pass out from anaemia or something.  
  
He makes coffee, gets out eggs and bread, bacon, bananas. Bless that kid Nero for dropping off groceries on his way back to Fortuna. Nero was probably concerned for V's wellbeing when he heard where he'd be staying. Dante can't blame him.  
  
V slumps at the kitchen counter, the biggest mug of creamy coffee cradled between his hands. Not a morning person. Dante chuckles to himself, and V watches him work with a warm smile, his presence bringing new life to the dusty old office.  
  
"Honestly I'm surprised you can cook, Dante. Pleasantly surprised," V adds at Dante's raised eyebrow.  
  
When Dante serves up breakfast, it's gratifying to see V's eyes go wide, his mouth falling open. V looks truly overwhelmed by the huge plate of french toast, fried banana and bacon, with fresh strawberries and blueberries on the side. With a grin, Dante sets the maple syrup on the counter, and slides onto the counter seat beside V.  
  
V looks almost pained when he says, "Um, I don't think I can eat all this..."  
  
Dante shoves a strawberry into V's mouth to get him to eat instead of wasting time on talking.  
  
Despite being intimidated by the size of the portion and starting out by picking at the edges, V soon ends up shoveling chunks of french toast slathered in syrup into his mouth and stuffing his cheeks full. With a smirk and shake of his head, Dante can't help but think about how that's V's approach in bed too.  
  
After swallowing the last piece of banana and fried bread, V slumps on the counter. One hand presses to his rounded belly over the baggy t-shirt Dante lent him.  
  
"I'm dying," V gasps, "but that was so good."  
  


 

 


	3. We've Always Lived in the House (Dante/V)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: This ficlet now has lovely art by [anxiousbluffer](https://anxiousbluffer.tumblr.com/)! [Check it out](https://anxiousbluffer.tumblr.com/post/184292622779/illustration-for-3am-monochrome-ch3-by-beowvlf)!

 

 

 

Before the Qliphoth incident, Dante hadn't been back to the house since returning from Mallet Island. Twice he wanted to find some closure for Vergil's death. Now he's returning with V at his side.  
  
They're surrounded by warming spring sun, crisp air that Dante breathes in deep lungfulls, long meadow grass, and orchard trees that have been rambling in their own directions without care for the past 40 years. Water droplets and insect wings catch the light around them, and it's like a saccharine TV movie, or a peaceful dream before a nightmare. Everything is so beautiful and nostalgic it makes Dante want to run. V squeezes his hand. He carries the flowers for their mother: baby's breath, heavy-headed pale roses, wild herbs.  
  
The ruin of the house looks as it did in the Qliphoth illusion and when Dante visited to search for an answer to stopping Urizen. It looks even more pathetic and forgotten in the mellow spring day; the surrounding vitality of the overgrown garden half swallows the burnt remains of a once stately country home.  
  
The ancient magic of the land laid down by their father still drifts from the earth and the oldest trees. It rises from the very foundation stones of the house. The breeze brushing through their hair picks up and whispers, "They're here, they're here, the little ones are back. Sparda's get." The wind laughs in passing, touching their faces. "Let them pass, let them pass, the little lords."  
  
Dante shakes his head. The sylphs hadn't given him this fanfare the last time he was here. V gives him a lopsided smile, the shimmering form of a sylph riding his hair.  
  
"Still sure you wanna live here again?" Dante asks.  
  
V swings their joined arms with a chuckle. "Yes. Our family was always meant to live in this house."  
  
At the mention of family, Dante grimaces, but it's not a bad feeling. With Vergil and Nero, they're a family of four again, and will probably gain a few more members in the future. The DMC office was enough for Dante and his occasional visitors, but the lack of space is making them stir-crazy. V has had the old family home in his sights from the beginning. Dante can't even think of how much it'll cost to fix the old place up. But he's not in this alone anymore.

 

 

 


	4. Nothing to Prove (Nero+Vergil)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4N+4V, AU timeline. Meeting.

 

 

Vergil's red eyes are unfocused, his skin still waxy pale. His attention snaps to Nero's devil bringer. The intensity of his look makes the hair at the back of Nero's neck stand on end, and his inner devil snarls at the perceived threat. He tenses for a fight. In his right arm, Yamato hums with different emotions: joy, recognition, longing?  
  
Against his better judgment, Nero reaches out with trembling clawed fingers. Vergil tilts his face into the touch. His eyes slide closed.  
  
Nero's devil instincts are still wary, but he relaxes as he feels that Vergil's devil remains completely placid. Yamato had accepted Nero, but she'd shared a long and complicated past with Vergil.

 

 

 


	5. Afternoons (Dante/Nero)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4DN, in the years before 5. Mentioned DV.

 

 

Nero's touch on Dante's spent cock is gentle, but possessive. He laughs to himself, like he wants Dante to ask, "What's so funny?" When Dante doesn't, he concentrates back on his playful touches. Nero's using his left hand, but Dante is aware of the rough scales of Nero's right arm trapped between their naked bodies, and that Nero's claws are digging into his own thigh. Still worked up. This kid is dangerous.  
  
Their first time it had taken most of the night to satisfy Nero. To wear him out. They were both bleeding and sweaty. Nero had cried more than once— from pain, from pleasure. They fucked like they wanted to destroy each other, to devour. But the night had ended in enough tenderness to squeeze at Dante's heart.  
  
Dante has never been with anyone quite like Nero. Someone he feels so much for. Except maybe... Vergil. Nero is so much more honest though: in what he wants, in what he feels, in what he gives.  
  
Of course after an experience like that, Dante couldn't say no to a second time, a third, again and again, whenever they happened to be in the same place at the same time.  
  
Dante isn't sure why this thing between them never goes beyond those nights (or days). Why parting is easy. Whether he's the one evading a serious relationship as usual, or if Nero's the one keeping him at a distance. Maybe it's the both of them. He knows he loves Nero. About as much as he can love anyone these days.  
  
Dante lifts his hand to Nero's head, feeling lethargic. He ruffles Nero's hair more because he feels like touching Nero, than because he thinks Nero wants to be petted. Nero glances up at him. Dante expects him to toss his head, but then Nero practically purrs, leaning into the attention. Dante chuckles, watching Nero rub his cheek against his chest.  
  
Then like the vicious creature he is, Nero bites Dante's nipple hard enough to make him gasp. Grinning at Dante's reaction, Nero runs his fingers soothingly through the trail of hair at Dante's abdomen. Like a half-serious apology.  
  
Dante smacks the back of Nero's head. And then they settle down again, lazing in the comfort of each other's warmth and the peaceful afternoon.

 

 

 


End file.
